A LIfe Of Fear Is Not Worth Living
by HeadlessHuntsman
Summary: This is a one shot dealing with the ill-fated romance of Fabian and Emmeline.


**A/N: This was written for SnarkyAndProudHufflepuff's Super Challenging Challenge. I normally don't write early gen at all or these two characters so here goes nothing.**

Emmeline Vance ducks behind a parked car, firing off a stunner which narrowly misses her attacker. Suddenly the car is lifted into the air and flipped backward onto its top. She rolls off to one side and escapes being crushed. Before she can react further she is hit by a green light and crumples to the ground, her lifeless eyes not seeing who it is that kills her.

She is warm. 'This is wrong', she thinks. Death is supposed to be cold. She is laying on what feels like a plush carpet. The air smells clean and fresh. She opens her eyes and shields them from the sunlight. 'Sunlight?' She thinks. She realizes she's not laying on a carpet but on a freshly mowed lawn. She looks around and recognizes the place. It brings the pain and sadness of memories flooding back. She closes her eyes and remembers.

_"Fabian are you here?" A much younger looking Emmeline asks, removing an invisibility cloak. _

_"Over here," she hears his voice answer. She rushes over to Fabian and melts into his embrace. _

_"We shouldn't be here," he says. "It's not safe."_

_"But, I had to see you," she protests. "and, no one knows we're here."_

_"Gideon knows." He corrects her. "I have him watching the perimeter." _

_"Well, he's not likely to betray us is he?" She asks sarcastically. _

_"Of course not. But, it's still not safe. They are setting new taboos every day. We don't know what could give us away."_

_"I know, but like Dumbledore says, love is the greatest magic of all." Emmeline says with tears in her eyes. _

_"Em we've been over this. It's too dangerous for us to have a baby right now. I mean what kind of parents would we be bringing a baby into this war." He asks._

_"What kind of people would we be if we let that maniac rule over our lives? A life of fear is not worth living. Please, Fabian, please marry me and let's start a family. I love you and want to be with you." She cries full tears now._

_Fabian's heart melts. He looks at the woman he knows he loves and realizes that she is right. A life of fear is not worth living._

_He kisses her on the top of her head and nods in agreement._

_"We will let everyone know tomorrow at the meeting."_

_"Thank you, love." She cries into his chest._

_Suddenly they hear Gideon yelling from the outer gardens._

_"Fabian! We've got company!"_

_"Go!" Fabian yells. "Go get help!" Fabian starts to sprint towards the outer garden then turns back, He reaches in his pocket and hands his watch to Emmeline._

_"I don't have a ring yet so this will have to do." He kisses her deeply and sprints away._

_Emmeline throws her cloak over her head and turns to apparate. It is at this moment that chance and fate decide to intervene. A stray red light, from the fight hits her in the chest and she crumples to the ground still covered by her cloak. The watch she is still holding in her hand slams against the hard ground and skitters away with a new dent._

Tears are now streaming down her face as she lays on the verdant carpet. 'He died thinking I abandoned him,' she thinks. She never loved another. She spent the rest of her life fighting the Dark Arts and their evil practitioners. Now she has failed at that as well.

"Hey Em." She hears his voice for the first time in fifteen years. Her eyes snap open and she sees the man she still loves sitting near her on a bench.

"Fabian?" She asks, sitting up.

"Who else?" He asks smirking, and holding his arms out.

Emmeline doesn't remember standing up or running to Fabian but she must have because she is now hugging him crying.

"I am so sorry, I was stunned. By the time I woke up both of you were dead. I couldn't..."

"Shhh pet, I know." Fabian says stroking her hair. "We both know."

"I'm so sorry I failed you," She cries.

"You could never fail me," he says crying as well. "I died happy. I knew I was safe and secure in your love. I have one question though; Why did you put my watch back in my pocket?"

"I didn't deserve it. At least I felt I didn't. She answered him.

"Is that why there was never anyone else?" He asks.

She sinks her head into his chest and nods, crying. The situation suddenly dawns on her.

"Wait a tick, if you're here and it's been fifteen years that means you've been waiting that whole time?"

"And it's been bloody boring as hell," says another voice from across the garden.

"Gideon?" She asks incredulously.

"I wasn't about to let this git wait by himself and there was no chance in hell he was leaving without you. So we've been here waiting for you to come along."

Gideon walks over to a gate to the outer garden.

"So what now?" She asks Fabian

"Now?" Fabian says. "Now we move on."

"Together?" She asks sounding worried.

"Forever," he answers taking her hand.

"Oh by the by love, I have something for you." He reaches in his pocket and pulls out a ring. "I got this from mum when she came through." He says taking her hand and sliding the ring onto it. He looks into her eyes and kisses her deeply.

"Hey you two, let's go," Gideon yells. "I wanna see what's next." He passes through the gate and disappears into the mist.

Fabian takes Emmeline's hand and leads her through the gate and into the mist together


End file.
